Overview

Energa Group head offices in Gdansk. Photo: www.energa.pl free of use

The Energa Group is a Polish state owned energy company. Its core business entails the distribution, generation and sale of electricity. Energa is one of the four largest energy companies in Poland and the third distribution system operator (DSO) in Poland in terms of volume of electrical energy supplied to end-customers. Energa operates coal, hydropower, wind, biomass, and photovoltaic power plants with a total installed generation capacity of approximately 1.3 GW. Energa's electricity generation is 57% based on coal power. This percentage share will increase if Energa starts operating the new 1,000 MW Ostrołęka C coal power plant. As of September 2017, the company held assets totalling PLN 15.54 billion (EUR 3.74 billion).

What must happen

Financial institutions should avoid financing Energa via corporate loans and bonds while the company is pursuing its plans for the Ostroleka coal power plant. The loans provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Nordic Investment Bank should be terminated due to the serious possibility of usage of those funds for the Ostroleka C plant.

Location

Issues

Social impact

Studies have estimated that Energa's plants contribute significantly to the deterioration of health in Poland. The pollution emitted by the Ostrołęka A+B power plants is estimated to result in 129 premature deaths annually, 1,370 years of life lost and more than 30,000 lost work days. The Elblag plant is estimated to contribute to 16 premature deaths each year, 165 years of life lost and about 3,500 lost work days. The planned Ostrołęka C coal power plant would further increase these impacts. It is estimated that over its 40 years projected lifespan it would be responsible for: between 900 and 2,000 premature deaths, over 3,000 cases of bronchitis, and between 50,000 and 100,000 cases of asthma attacks in children. Lost working days would amount to approximately 420,000 (Lifting Europe's Dark Cloud, 2016).

Environment

Energa operates coal, hydropower, wind, biomass, and photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of approximately 1.3 GW. Energa's electricity generation is 57% based on coal power. This share will increase when Energa starts operating the new 1,000 MW Ostrołęka C coal power plant.

Energa's main impact on the environment and climate change is related to its contribution to overall Polish CO2 emissions (in 2015 these amounted to 294,879,000 tonnes). In 2015 Energa was responsible for 2.4 million tonnes of CO2 generated. Its two main facilities (Ostrołęka A+B and Elblag) also emit other air pollutants. Each year together they produced almost 11,000 tonnes of SO2 and 5,500 tonnes of nitrogen oxides (Greenpeace Wegiel Zabija report). These pollutants not only harm people's health, but also corrode buildings and damage the environment by causing deforestation and acidifying waterways to the detriment of aquatic life.

The intense water usage and waste dumping at the Ostrołęka power plants have also led to the polluting of local water sources – most notably the Narew river – by heavy metals such as: cadmium, nickel, zinc, copper, chromium, cobalt and lead. Recent studies show that the Narew river is contaminated beyond the 'l geochemical' class with cadmium segments. The Narew's aquatic flora is polluted by a high accumulation of zinc, lead and chromium in the underwater roots parts.